Successfully Exhibiting in Another Country

Tips for International Trade Show Participation

Businesses have been operating in global economies for many years, and the prominence of online shopping means buyers can find your brand from the other side of the globe with a couple of clicks.

To optimise growth, this means you must promote your brand in many different markets and territories, according to Aaron Inglethorpe of discountdisplays.co.uk. He points out that, with emerging markets now taking up 22% of the global exhibition market, overseas trade shows have never been more appealing.

Of course, the planning and logistics of exhibiting in another country are more involved than a domestic trade show. Yet, a lot of the pitfalls can be avoided with proper budgeting and planning.

Budget Planning

Setting a budget should be the first priority. It will help you ascertain how many shows and countries you can exhibit at, along with set guidelines for how much you can spend on equipment and staff.

Country Selection

The next step is to select the country or countries where you want to exhibit and find a relevant trade shows to attend. It could be that the country is more important than a specific event or vice versa. Often you will use internal business data to determine which should take prominence.

If you decide to choose a country first, there are useful trade show listings online that will show you upcoming events along with data on past events, expected number of attendees and other companies that will be exhibiting.

In terms of timeline, the earlier you book your show the better, as inevitably there will be delays along the way, especially if it is your first time exhibiting overseas. Once you have booked in to exhibit, it is worthwhile checking for an exhibitor manual for the relevant show, which will provide useful information on stand requirements, contact details and often details of local stand builders and staff.

Trade Show Planning

In terms of planning and checklists, exhibiting in another country can be thought of the same way as an international holiday. Visa, passport and immigration applications need to be made as soon as possible, currency must be taken into account and booking accommodation and travel while there.

The logistics of exhibition stand equipment takes careful thought and can be one of the biggest challenges you will face with international exhibiting. Shipping your stand can take several weeks and involves paperwork and communications. If you are going this route, use a reputable, experienced freight company that will do a lot of the legwork for you.

It is worth looking into the idea of buying
or renting a stand and graphics from the country where your show is hosted. This can
ensure it meets the countries health and safety standards and may be cheaper than shipping your own equipment over.

Suppliers of can
easily be found online via a search engine or listed on industry association
websites.

Another important aspect is differing time zones. This can affect and delay communications. An email sent during the day your time, may be night time for the recipient, so a reply won’t be sent until the following day

Staffing

Getting the right staff is essential for
success at exhibiting internationally. Obviously it is important to have people
from your company there, but you may need extra staff that are multi lingual or
have knowledge of the sales customs of that country.

You will also need a team
to assemble the stand, and in this instance it is often easier to hire
temporary staff from the country you are exhibiting in.

If you get these fundamentals right, you
will be well on your way to a successfully exhibiting in another country and find that
it is much easier than you first anticipated.